Gold Coast, Australia is about as far away as you can get from the Sunset Strip in Los Angles or even Sheffield in the UK for that matter, but Australia’s De La Cruz have managed to personify the sleaze of the strip, along with a seemingly mutual admiration for the melody and sounds of Def Leppard in to the form of their debut album Street Level.

One listen to the intro of the opening title track and you will automatically hear why De La Cruz is considered in many circles as a modern day Def Leppard. The song itself is certainly catchy and hard hitting enough to stand up on its own right however, comparisons to this heavyweight of the genre, will only serve to help propel this young group’s career forward, as long as they continue to keep expanding and modernising their sound. ‘Girls Go Wild’ and ‘Turn it Up’ possess a certain Sunset Strip swagger to them and carry on nicely where the title track left off also.

‘Cherry Bomb’, kick starts with a catchy, memorable guitar riff and contains many sing-along moments, this track along with the much mellower track’ Invincible’, are two of the main standout tracks on Street Level. There is no doubt that the band has an incredible knack for crafting catchy hooks and melodies either, this being highlighted by these two tracks in particular.

Despite some near cringe worthy lyrics ‘S.E.X’ is one hell of a catchy song and as much as you may not want to at times, you cannot help but get caught up in the melody and beat of this song. ‘Set the Night’, is also another one of the standout tracks on the album, the song has it all, catchy sing-a-long lyrics, hard hitting drums and riffs that will have you banging your head in approval. The obligatory ballad however sneaks its way in, closing out the album in the form of the track ‘Shine’. While it’s not necessarily a bad song it does feel like a bit of an anti-climax and ends the album on a bit of a whimper rather than carrying on the rock ‘n’ roll good vibes that the rest of the album possesses.

All obvious band comparisons aside, De La Cruz have moulded these influences in to a sound that feels refreshingly modern, and while they may not exactly be necessarily breaking any new territory with their debut album Street Level. This is the kind of band and album that will surely appease both old school and modern day rockers alike. De La Cruz sure possess mountains of talent and promise, it is perhaps only geography that is holding them back from achieving further acclaim at this point in time.